Blake Books

I have read this book countless time, and when my copy went missing i just had to buy it again. Dahl his a brilliant writer who whose work cam be adored by people from ages 8 to eighty eight.

I have read Matilda, The Witches, The Twits, and more of Roald Dahl's wonderful books to children of all ages, all economic levels, and from all over the world. Dahl has an amazing ability to captivate any audience. He also allows children to view Norwegian and British cultures.
His books are hilarious, full of rhymes, puns, metaphors, and rich with vocabulary. Dahl can take any reader, from age 5 to 95, to a whole new world.
Strongly, strongly recommend Matilda, The Witches, and especially Boy for children, teens, AND adults. Whether someone reads to them or they read alone.

This is one of Dahl's finest, a strong, hilarious, and touching story that hits the spot of all kids who cannot stand their obnoxious parents. I understand that lots of adults hate the anti-adult attitude, but that is what makes this book so appealing. This is about a young child who is capable of caring for herself.

However, Matilda is slightly different from the other kids. Not only is she a genius, but she has telekinetic powers. If she wasn't causing enough trouble before learning about this gift, she certainly does afterwards.

But it's always for the good of herself and fellow children as she punishes her parents and evil headmistress alike as a champion for kiddy heroics.

As a teacher in a multi-lingual school, a copy of a book in ANY language other than English is like gold! Matilda is a great book for any child.
Most children today are avid movie goers. A book that "goes with" a movie has gotten my students reading, reading, reading! After viewing the video AND reading the book makes for a great compare and contrast lesson...putting the book in Spanish allows for me to expand that experience and the growth of my Spanish speaking learners!
I highly recommend this book to teachers working with non-English speaking students.

I thought this was an entertaining little book, but as some of the negative reviews suggest, it may be a little too dark for younger children. But then again, most under-10 children (if my nieces are any guide) are going to want books with more pictures and less text anyhow.

This has Dahl written all over, it is makes you want to laugh at the sheer nonsense of it gasp at the huge outrageousness of and cry at how Sophie finds a home at last with her friend the BFG

one of Dahl's best

The BFG is a about a girl that gets taken away by a big friendly giant from the orphanage. She gets taken to a dried up magical land and has to hide or another giant will eat her flesh!
I like this book because it is adventurous. You never know if a giant is standing behind you about an inch away from eating your flesh! SCARY! This book is so great, that I will never stop reading it until I am eighty! (Just so you know I am only eight and a half).

Well, this book was first read to me when I was 5, I am now 20 and it has never been surpassed as my No. 1 favourite book, especially if I want a quick read and a good laugh.
I would recomend this book to all ages, even those who are young, as the eating of Human Beans is for a weird reason, not very prominent in the forefront of your mind. One might suppose this would be because none of the eaten childers are named or introduced in the book. It all happens elsewhere, and does not happen anywhere that the story is actually happening, (childers do get eaten in England, which is where the story is set, but none that Sophie has ever meet).
All in all, a very good read and worth the money, however much you spend.

Roald Dahl is the author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Matilda," and "The Witches" and other children's classics. The BFG is about a girl who lives at an orphanage named Sophie. When Sophie sees a giant, when she shouldn't have, the giant has no other choice but to snatch her. But the giant isn't like the other giants. Good thing or otherwise he might have eaten Sophie after taking her from the orphanage. In the giant's world, things are very different for Sophie. After she learns about the other giants who do eat people, she creates a plan to save the world from them with the BFG's help of course.

Great story for a read aloud. Kids love listening to and reading along with the descriptive language.

Adult readers, please shut off your reality and turn on your imagination; please read Roald Dahl's THE WITCHES. It's written for 7-12 year olds, but I guarantee you'll also have fun with it.

My favorite lines pinched my nostrils together when I read them. "I ... ran into The Grand High Witch's bedroom. There was the same musty smell about the place that I had noticed in the Ballroom [a witches' meeting]. It was the stench of witches. It reminded me of the smell inside the men's public lavatory at our local railway-station."

Pee-ew! That's some stench!

This story has three parts: the first - scary and gruesome, the second - funny, full of adventure and predictable, the third - warm, unexpected and full of promise and excitement.

What stays with me is the love between the grandson and the grandmother - they fully accept one another despite their differences and they enthusiastically enjoy life and each other.

The ending is left open for the imagination - not taken to a close like so much these days where nothing is left to ponder upon.

I love this book! I was at my cousin's house when she had book club, and having read this many times, I forgot how great it was! Luckily, I chose to read it again, and fell in love for the second time! With characters that only Roahld Dahl himself could come up with, this book is a find. An eccentric grandmother, a curious boy, and evil creatures, this book is masterpiece. One of my favorites in the Dahl collection, thank you to the author!!!!

This is an excellent book for 3rd grade readers. It is very exciting and keeps my child interested. I recommend this book.

This will continue to be one of the most dazzling examples of children's literature. How can you not love something of so much horror that comes off with such humor and charm?

In classic Dahl fashion, a boy is horrible orphaned to be left with his grandmother, a woman who belives in the dangers of witches.

What follows is a hotel adventure that manages to make witches villainous and yet as properly British as possible.

It's tongue-in-cheek and continuinly clever. I also think it is some of the best imagination Dahl has ever shone.

You do have to take this with a grain of salt.

I have just finished reading the provocative 1 star review by NO WAY. Yes, he is right, Save the Cat IS formulaic. But this can be helpful, as the formula is based on sound principles.

I have used it as a guide to write my first screenplay and found it immensely helpful. (I have just begun marketing it - so wish me luck.) I have previously written a long Mythopoeic novel, have studied mythology and folklore (including Campbell) and so I recognized a lot of the underlying principles. Perhaps this helped me have a little perspective on it.

As I see it - the formula is the the guide to the structure. You still need to have talent in writing. You may even be able to stray from the formula, but knowing it is really important.

One thing I liked about the book is the author's sense of humor. To me, his style implied a bit of "don't take me TOO seriously." I also like the way he discusses the ups and downs of the writer's process. For me, it was nice to know that I was not the only one going through the emotional roller-coaster.

So - I recommend it highly. Just don't take it as the bible. (THAT is 'Story" by McKee)Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting

Save the Cat is a screenwriters guide with claws. Most of the stuff you read in guides has been said before in lots of ways, but Snyder keeps the information fresh. Instead of saying "Make your protagonist likeable," Snyder uses the cat metaphor. Show him being nice. The info is presented with humor. It's like having lunch with a script doctor who's an industry insider. You come away feeling able to get back to work saving your own little kittens.

in my long and continuing search to learn the craft of screenwriting, i've read many books and have gotten something out of just about all of them. this is not something learned in one or two books and don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.

sure, we've all heard stories of first-time, unschooled scribes selling their script or idea for millions, but that's tantamount to winning the lottery or a one-time stoke of genius lightning . it can happen, but the odds are against all of us. you've really gotta learn how to do it.

and true and practical screenwriting cannot be learned in most universities either. you almost have to teach yourself. STC is a condensed, practical tool all students of the craft need to read. this is not to say you shouldn't read others as well. and Snyder references and praises some of these. crucial reads in my opinion are Syd Fields, Christopher Vogler and Lajos Egri amongst others.

for me the best thing i got out of STC was that it helped demystify
the process. since my first interest in the subject, i always felt that patterning an "original" after an already existing, hopefully successful, film would be a kind of "short cut" without really "copying" any particular film. to use other films simply as patterns. like a dressmaker does.

only i couldn't put my brain around how to do it no matter how many movies i watched. STC did this for me. it defined and explained what i had sensed all along. this helped me tremendously and i think it will you to.

it's the breakdown of genre types and beats that Snyder does so succinctly and originally that summed it up for me. in this same vain, it's companion book, "STC Goes to the Movies" is also a must read. both these books make for excellent reference material you'll find yourself reverting back to constantly.

i highly suggest anyone with an interest in the craft to include STC as an important addition to required reading in a fascinating and very challenging endeavor. in the end, you'll probably even learn things about yourself as well.

While this may not actually be the last book on screenwriting you'll ever need (partly because you'll find yourself also wanting Blake Snyder's next book "Save the Cat Goes to the Movies), it is an excellent guide for screenwriters because it gives a different slant on understanding genres and screenplay composition. After you've read Syd Field, William Goldman, Russin & Robbins, etc., Blake comes at the topic from a different angle that, at least for me, brought about an Aha! moment.

If you're interested in ever selling a screenplay, you'll want to read other books as well, but I highly recommend Snyder's work as not-to-be-missed on your list.

As a young college student with a passion for film I have thought many times, "Hey! I can write one of those things!" Well, Blake Snyder is here to help! From Fade-In to Fade-Out, Save The Cat! is engaging, insightful, and impossible to put down. Furthermore it's EASY TO UNDERSTAND! Having no previous knowledge about screenwriting I was able to pick up STC! and, by the book's end, feel empowered and capable of writing a fantastic AND sellable script! Snyder's book demystifies the craft of screenwriting for us newcomers. How did they come up with that idea? How can I make my hero likeable even if he's a "bad guy?" What is a logline and why is it so important? From its 15 point Beat Sheet to the 7 Immutable Laws of Screenplay Physics, Save The Cat! explains all this and tons more in a way that's fresh and brilliant from beginning to end. Blake Snyder's Save The Cat! may very well be the last book on screenwriting you'll ever need!

I started reading this book to my 5 year old daughter a few days ago and we are both in love. It is funny, thrilling and joyful. The use of language is arrful and clever. I have never, so enjoyed a children's book. I'm either a big child, or this is more than a mere child's play.

I can't say enough good things about this book. My kids & I just love it. The chapters are short, which makes it a bit easier for the kids to read, and the story is so engaging it has all all on the edge of our seats, waiting to hear what will happen next. Such a fun book!

Ever been in a giant flying peach? James and the giant peach by Roald Dahl tells about a boy who's parents get eaten by a giant rhino, goes to live with his evil aunts, then rolls away in a giant peach. To begin, His parents take him to the London Zoo when only to encounter a loose rhinoceros. The rhino eats James' parents to leave him on the streets. Then, he goes to live with his evil aunts, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge. They treat him very badly and don't let him play with other kids. Finally, an old man comes and gives James some magic crystals. Then a giant peach grows, James crawls in the peach to find some unusually large insects. They then roll away in a giant peach in hope of finding a better place.
Read this book to find out what happens to James and the giant peach

I bought this for my 5-year old son 3 weeks ago and we haven't stopped listening to it. Roald Dahl has a beautifully warped view of the world, with parents killed tragically, evil aunts and innocent, precocious children. James is a wonderful example. Jeremy Irons brings real range to the interpretation of the characters, so we all - parents and child - find ourselves chuckling as we drive and listen (and will do for a long time to come). A treat for children (and their sainted parents also).

James and the Giant Peach is the best book I have ever read! It is about a boy named James whose parents were killed by a rhinoceros who escaped from the London Zoo. Because he no longer had parents, James was forced to live with his two aunts who were very mean to him.

One day when he was working, an old man gave James some magic green beans. If James swallowed the green beans, nothing bad would ever happen to him. James accidently dropped the green beans in the dirt and they disappeared into the earth.

There were eight beans and seven insects suddenly became very large after they ate the beans. James was wondering what happened to the eighth bean. It hit an old peach tree and a giant peach grew on the tree.

James and the insects became friends and they lived in the giant peach together for a day. They all realized that they had to escape from the James' horrible aunts. They cut the peach off the tree and it went rolling away with James and his friends. It rolled off a cliff and landed in the ocean.

After this point, James had many adventures inside the peach with his insect friends. They find a way to escape from sharks, they escape from "cloud men" who throw rocks at them, and finally, they make a way to land safely in busy New York City.

Enjoy all these exciting advenutres yourself by reading this great book!

Don't make the mistake that I did and take a break of any length from this series! It's no understatement that the Anita books need to be read IN ORDER. LKH makes so many references to the previous books -- mild enough that they don't do much to jog the memory -- that the plethora of characters can leave you scratching your head. I'm truly beginning to need a scorecard.

Is this a flaw in the series? Probably not, but there is a neverending flow of satellite characters, and to understand the plot of one book, you have to know what happened with the character in previous books.

In any case, LKH continues to unfold the Anitaverse with this latest installment ... the first with a title that's not named after a eating or entertainment establishment. Readers dying to find out who gets the girl -- Richard or Jean-Claude -- will be pleased that the answer is finally revealed ... and it's luscious. The plot is fairly simple: there's a bounty out on Anita (which brings the psychopathic gun for hire Edward back into the story), while Richard is fighting to assert his alpha leadership of the werewolf pack. There's some fascinating synergy between Anita, Richard & Jean-Claude that will obviously re-appear in subsequent stories.

I still don't rate the Anita books a 5, because there are some things I can't get past. For one thing, I don't like Anita, particularly. I'm fairly dispassionate about what happens to her. Instead, I want to know about Jean-Claude, Edward, Richard & some of the other characters. I get weary of reading ad nauseum about how much blade & heat Anita's packing and how smart & invincible she is. She is definitely becoming more & more paranoid -- not to mention more revengeful,callous & somewhat cavalier towards her killings, but who wouldn't, given what she's gone through so far? Her continuous touting -- both in narrative and conversation -- about how oh soooooo tough she is creates a pompous, self-centered character who really doesn't deserve the attentions of either Jean-Claude or Richard. Yet, there is certainly character development as Anita continues to move further away from humanness and closer to the monsters. And she knows it.

I'm hoping, too, to see LKH's writing mature over the next novels. While her stories are spellbounding, her writing is careless and somewhat lazy. She's terribly uncreative in avoiding the annoying pitfall of repeating words -- especially verbs & adjectives -- not just in the same paragraph but in the same sentence. This drives me personally nuts.

But that's just me. If you like Anita, and don't get bogged down in stylistic issues, you will love Book #6.

I NEVER READ A SINGLE PAGE OF ANY LAURELL HAMILTONS BOOKS. I HAPPEN TO STUMBLE ON "THE KILLING DANCE" (UNAWARE IT WAS BOOK 6 OF A SERIES)

I RANDOMLY PICKED THIS BOOK TO DO A PROJECT. I NEEDED 2 DIFFERENT (AUTHORS AND STORY LINE HAD TO BE DIFFERENT) THRILLERS, 2 DIFFERENT ROMANCE NOVELS, 2 DIFFERENT HORROR AND 2 DIFFERENT YOUNG ADULT AUTHORS AS WELL.

I HAPPEND TO GRAB HER BOOK AND I MUST ADMIT, I COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN. THIS BOOK REMINDS ME OF "INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE" MEETS "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER". AFTER READING IT... THE OTHER BOOKS JUST BORED ME. I AM QUICKLY FINISHING THIS PROJECT SO I CAN GET THE NEXT BOOK OF HAMILTONS AND READ IT! I LOVE HER ATTENTION TO DETAIL, HER STYLE OF WRITING AND HER IMAGINATION THAT IS INVOLVED. AND I REALLY ENJOYED HER CHOICE OF THE BARBIE LIKE BAD A** SHE CREATED.

TWO THUMBS UP!
GOOD FUN!

Laurell K. Hamilton never disapoints and this book in the Anita Blake series is no exception.

This one went a different way for me than the last few have, which I think was the author's intention. In the last few books, the best part has been the character development and the memorably written scenes -- usually of gore and horror. This one had both, but the part I liked best was actually the plot: I liked that the danger Anita faced this time came from humans, rather than from monsters, and that it almost got her, twice. It was a nice reminder that as deadly and horrifying and brutal as the vampires and everyone are made out to be, they're a sight less so than good ol' humankind, which is neither one, as the bumpersticker says. I also thought the final villain showdown was wonderfully well set up; I had no idea it was going to go the way it did, neither the person behind the contract on Anita's life nor the surprise that comes after it, though I suspected the vampire. After the scene with Damian, in which yet another newly introduced vamp takes advantage of humans and tries to add an element of cruelty and manipulation to his encounter with a person, I find myself always suspecting the vampires. They're so often guilty.

I was also glad to see the romantic plot come to some kind of . . . well, "climax" seems both appropriate and highly inappropriate, so we'll go with "resolution," instead. I'm also intrigued by the possibilities of the triumvirate, especially now that the romantic story has gone where it has. And may I just say: oh, my. My, my, my, that was quite a scene. Yes indeed, quite a scene. I was also gratified to see the explanation of the vampires' fear of necromancers, and the power that Anita has over them; that is an incredibly clever idea of Ms. Hamilton's. Finally, I can't wait to find out how the promise Anita gives to Edward will play out. Lot of possibilities there, though I was sorry to see Harley go. He seemed a promising chap.

These books are now standouts in my mind not only because they are more entertaining than most other books -- especially horror books, a traditionally dry genre in my opinion -- but interesting as well. I just keep getting happier and happier with them.

I have been a fan of Laurel Hamilton's books since her very chaste beginnings (she had two boyfriends, but wouldn't sleep with either of them until she chose between them.) Now, the sex in her books is so explicit and kinky that a few years ago you could have bought them only in an adult book store. But the sex is not the main reason these books are so good. Her plot twists and turns are highly intricate and her characters, both human and non-human, are well drawn. A very petty criticism, however...I wish someone would Super Glue her hyphen key! She uses so many hyphenated phrases that it becomes annoying. But when you get into the hardcore action (whether sexual, investigative or battling) the books are pure fun.

Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol, forever old as well as new, arrived in a timely manner and in factory new condition. Thank you. I give you a five star rating.
Earl Woodham

Cute book to add to my table of Christmas Stories. Will make a cute addition this Christmas.

I ordered 30 copies of this Dover Thrift Edition of A Christmas Carol and used them as stocking stuffers at work.

This is a great item for the price, lower than some greeting cards, and I suspect appreciated a tad more than the usual overflow of candy around at holiday time!

Everyone has their favorite version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Make this dramatic retelling yours. At about 2 hours, its perfect for listening in the car while running around during the holidays or on your MP3 player while putting up Christmas lights. I plan on listening to it every year from now on. Patrick Stewart gives voice to every character, including the narration, and gives the kind of performance which I have come to expect from an actor of his immense talents.

I saw this script produced at the Castle Museum in York during its first run. It's the most faithful adaptation I have ever seen of A Christmas Carol, which is one of my favourite novels.

Highly recommended.

This is the second book in the series. Once again these books are short so I hope no one expects a lengthy in-depth read. Instead of giving away a lot of plot information I think I'll just give a list of likes and dislikes.

Likes: Jean-Claude. Though this character is rarely seen in this story I crave the next opportunity to see him. It isnt the greatest sexual tension I have read between two charcters, but this is all we're given in these two books so far. I like this character and his interactions with Anita.

I like the first person point of view. Anita is witty at times and can make me laugh.

Dislikes: This list will be fairly long. First of all, the repatitive aspect of this book is quite annoying. I'm seeing phrases that were repeated from the first book word for word. This doesn't happen just once, but many times throughout the book. It's often used for describing peoples characteristics and physical being. Not to mention she does this all throughout her third book I am reading.

Anita's personalitly. It was nice to see the tough girl image in the first book. This book, not so much. It seems she's void of regular emotions a twenty-four year old female would have. She's not girly in any way. If I didnt know any better I'd say she was written as a man. It would be nice to see a vulnerability to this character and have her be feminine every once in a while.

Her hate for Vampires is something that is questionable. She pushes for Zombie working rights and shuns all vampires as evil, when the plot of this story is about a Zombie on a murderous rampage. Why does she hate vampires? It never really says. Sure, she was attacked by them but she was also attacked by wererats and zombies, yet she doesnt seem to harbor the hateful feelings she holds for vampuires. She pushes Jean-Claude away at every turn for what reason? He wants her to be his human servant, I can understand she wouldnt want that. But why does she feel he's so dangerous when has he made any kind of threat to her?

The gore: I'm not one that's grossed out by alot. Yet, this book takes the cake. It's scenes were borderline distasteful. Her playing and making bets to see who can gross out who in a family murder scene is outrageous. The detailing is something that Hamilton doesn't shy away from.


Despite my lack of positive reveiws I gave it three stars. I would really like to see this character develop and a piece of me thinks I should give it time. I think I judge things a tad too sharply. I wasn't bored at all while reading this book. It was a decent read. Like any book it has it's flaws. Hopefully, it will get a shade better as the series continues. More than anything I would like to see what becomes of her and Jean-Claude.

Although the first bok in this series is really good this on e seemed a little dry and hard to follow for me. I was very disappointed

Boy, and you thought the first one was bloody? This one was easily the goriest, most gruesome piece of writing I've seen outside of Stephen King and some of the schlock-fest fiction I've read in the past when no better option was available -- you know, the kind of thing where you're trapped in a waiting room and the magazines are old and water stained, but hmm, what's this paperback without a cover? Oh, Attack of the Lung-Eating Leper Beasts? What's this about?

But unlike those books, this gore had reason and purpose, and it made the book better than it would have been without it -- surely the requirement for any given element's inclusion in a novel.

Anyway, the second Anita Blake book was as good as the first, and that is a good sign. Because the second book is in some ways very unlike the first: in the first one, the murder mystery takes a backseat -- way back, like hanging off the rear bumper of one of those double-length buses with the accordion joint in the middle -- to the vampire stuff, which is very scary and shows that the vampires are incredibly nasty and overpowering and no human really has any chance. At the end of the first book, Anita feels small to the reader. And that's good, because it makes the character human, and when she says at the very end of the book that line -- "I don't date vampires. I slay them." -- it sounds desperate, like she's whistling in the dark and she knows it, because Jean-Claude already has such a claim on her, both in terms of his mind control and because of her attraction to him, and because she never should have won the fight with the evil vamps. The poignancy of that line, and her desperate situation, makes her sympathetic.

This book made her bada$$. The murder mystery took center stage, because at every pause in the action, back it came with an even bloodier and more horrifying murder scene -- and since the very first murder scene begins with a corpse that is nothing but a section of ribs, and a blood-soaked teddy bear, saying that each scene is more horrifying than the last is saying a lot. And more so than the first book, the murder mystery and the intrigue element complemented each other, because this time, the intrigue involved the killers with Anita (The same held true of Guilty Pleasures, granted, but in a much more coincidental way.), and so her dealings with the evil folk brought her closer to solving the murders. I appreciated that the gory scenes helped to build hatred for the villains, as well as building up to the final scene; I think the last monster that is thrown at Anita would have seemed much more of a joke if we hadn't already had the sheer bloodiness of the murder scenes before then. There's also a wonderful moment when Anita catches up to the killer, and it asks her for mercy, in a way; one thing that I feel is an absolute requisite for monster fiction of any kind is the humanization of the monsters: if the monsters aren't human, then I can't care about them and I don't want to get involved in their existences, even peripherally. When the murderer asks for Anita's help, it makes me pity it, just a little -- and that makes the blood spilled by this thing that much more horrible. Which makes Anita's final victory over those responsible for this not only impressive, because this time she's the strong one, but also righteous, because the evil was contrasted with pitiable, tragic figures. Human figures. Something that is lacking in far too many paranormal fiction novels.

I definitely enjoyed this one, even more than the first, and now I'm eager to read on.

I'm not really a fan of this genre, but people will buy these books and I read them when I dont have anything else to do. This book took me close to nine months to finish. Anita Blake is invincible. No matter what the situation you know Laurell Hamilton will never allow anyone to get the best of Anita Blake, and thats annoying. If two guys have guns pointed at you, if either was actually willing to shoot you, there would be no way to get out of it without getting shot. Not to mention how she's always talking about how vampires can "throw cars" yet she always seems to get disarmed in the fight, and still beat them. And every two pages, there is a paragraph explaining where her gun is and how she is carrying it, and it's pointless. Despite that she seems to have very little knowledge of firearms. Since when can you shoot a .22 in a .38? That is stupid on so many levels. And since when could a 9mm, or any handgun for that matter take off limbs? Jeane Claude is annoying the way he talks and how he's always dressed like a freak and nobody says anything about it. I gave the book two stars because Laurell Hamilton isn't the worst author, and this is far from the worst book I've read, but it's still pretty bad. I'm not into the genre, but her books are nowhere close to scary, or even dark. They remind me of tales from the crypt or something.

This is my second Anita Blake book that I have read (after "Guilty pleasures") and I am not impressed with it.
Anita Blake is a self-righteous, supposedly cool, totally unlikeable person. Her attitude is aggravating to say the least. She doesn't know when to shut her mouth, pisses the wrong people off at the wrong time and still comes out of every confrontation unharmed.

The descriptions of the murder scenes in the book are gross. To describe the scene once is necessary, but to describe the same stuff again and again is redundant. I'm getting the picture after the first time.

The books are called "vampire hunter novels", yet so far Anita hasn't hunted any vampires. Not that I think that vampires need to be hunted per se, but a bit of vampire interaction would be nice. In the first book the "vampire hunter" actually worked FOR the vampires and in the second one there were hardly any vampires.
Jean-Claude was only put in as a minor supporting actor. The whole book deals with zombies of all kinds - a topic that doesn't do it for me at all.

*SPOILERS*
What annoyed me most was:

- that Anita found out that raising a dead animator has very bad consequences and that that zombie can't be controlled by the one who raised it. Nevertheless she doesn't hesitate to - or even think about
it - raise a whole graveyard, meaning loads and loads of zombies she doesn't know anything about. What if there are former animators among them?

- that at first Anita wants to bring down Dominga Salvador with legal means and only in case those would fail she would let John Burke deal with her. That resolution didn't last for long, because as soon as she realizes that Dominga got out on bail (something which is pretty much inside the legal system, even though she obviously reached that by bribery) she decided it's time to have her killed by the numeours zombies she just raised. Nice double standard.

Guess this book wasn't for me.

My 15 year old brother-in-law enjoyed reading this book with me. I enjoyed it myself!!

Good book about growing up and some of the great stories you're expect from your grandfather. Could have used less information on the beatings headmasters used to give students.

So says Roald Dahl in the introduction to his autobiogrophy,BOY. The book is a collection of his childhood memories, from the magical summers in Norway to the dreary days at St.Peters boarding school. As in all of Dahl's works the characters are quirky and memorable,but more fascinating here because they really existed. The auther recounts the adventures of his childhood with tenderness and dry humor.

BOY,TALES OF CHILDHOOD is a terrific book, much more interesting than the average autobiography!

RATING:A

This hilarious book from Roald Dahl that tells about the funny things that he had done throughout his life. People who enjoy other books Dahl wrote will laugh on this one. For instance, Roald and his friends put a dead rat into a jar of Gobstoppers. IF you read the book, you should read more of Roald Dahl's adventures. I will recommend this book to people who like nonfiction and funny stories because it has both great and funny story.

I'm a Dahl fan, a writer for both adults and children. I think the key to his success as writer for children is that he doesn't think children are stupid or don't understand what they see. From my own experience, and now as a father, I know that children see, hear, think and make conclusions with their experiences.

This book is a collection of sketches of Dahl's school years. It makes you understand many of the stories that appear in his books: he was born in a well-to-do family, and enjoyed always a high living standard even in the depression years. He attended exclusive british public schools, etc. Then he found a good job at BP.

The book is full of family love, anecdotes about a child's view point (adenoidectomy, the mouse plot, etc) which will make you smile or even laugh aloud. Some of those, together with the fact that his mother saved all his letters and family fotos and mementoes, which sprinkle the book, makes it a delightful read.

It's true that some of the chapters are sombre, because for us it's shocking to know that children were so abused (beaten with a cane and deprived of affection, or bullied by older thugs who made them fag), but Dahl succeeds in making us loathe that supposedly elitistic education system. He doesn't make it sound as "the good old days, they had some bad things but not all..." In that sense, it's much better than "Tom Brown Shooldays" or Kipling's "Stalky and Co".

But all in all, he brings us the sense of a fantastic childhood, surrounded by family love, affection, and well being. I grew up in a partly similar context (the lack of affection in education, but not the beatings or the comfort)and it serves me to try to be a better father, more intent into giving my children nice emotional and intelectual experiences.

Enjoy!

I read this book as a child and puchased it to read to my 4 year old son. He loved the book. He did not want me to stop reading it. Roald Dahl is a great author. I recommend purchasing "The BFG", by the same author, which my son liked even more.

THE TWITS is a funny and enjoyable little yarn which stinks of some gross humor and yet warms the readers with stories of friendship and helping each other as well as a couple of moral lessons in the tradition of Aesop. On a side note, the "crude" humor in this little book is fairly tame by today's standards.

My kids absolutely wore out their paperback copy of The Twits, reading it so often that I ended up buying a hardcover to save money. I have read it three times myself, and ALWAYS laugh out loud while reading it. This is a short book, but typical of a Roald Dahl book, there is enough goofy humor here to gladden any heart. I always recommend this to people who have young children (particularly boys) with quirky senses of humor. A wonderful read-aloud book that is timeless.

Did anyone ever play a joke on you? Well, I'm pretty sure Mr. and Mrs. Twit, from the book The Twits by Roald Dahl, had a lot of experience with that. This book is about a married couple that nobody likes. Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, nastiest, and ugliest people in the world. Mr. Twit is the hairiest faced man. He has hair everywhere except his forehead. Mrs. Twit wasn't ugly at first but then she got uglier and uglier as the years went by. She is always negative toward people and, the expression on her face showed it and that's why she became ugly.
Their hobbies are to play mean and nasty jokes on each other and catch birds to put them in their pies. Some problems are that they think everything is a joke and they are rude to everybody in their town. All they do is play jokes on each other. Mrs. Twit has one fake eye that she always puts in Mr. Twit's beers so he could get scared. Mr. Twit is the person that always wins in the jokes. There are different kinds of jokes: funny, nasty, and even really mean ones. Since she uses a cane, Mr. Twit started putting little pieces of wood (no thicker than a penny) to make her cane taller. Then he told her she was getting the shrinks. Her reaction was, "Is there a cure?" Then Mr. Twit told her that she would be getting smaller and smaller until there was nothing left of her.
Mr. Twit is always putting super sticky glue on the trees to catch birds to put them in their pies. Since they make the monkeys do everything up side down the monkeys got mad. The monkeys and birds decided to get their revenge on Mr. and Mrs. Twit. They make it look as if Mr. and Mrs. Twit were up-side down. They put everything on the ceiling then when they came in they started to panic and saying "We are up-side down!" "HELP!"
I liked this book because it was hilarious. While I was reading the book it started getting more and more interesting and funny. One way this book was funny is that they play jokes on each other. One of my favorite parts was when the monkeys and birds got their revenge, after they got tired of getting pushed around by the Twits. I think you would really like this book if you are a person that likes to joke around. Therefore I recommend this book to people that love comedy. If you do like comedy I think this is the best book to read.

I have read most of Roald Dahl's books and this has got to be the worst of them. The plot goes no where fast and the characters are indeed twits like the title implies. Good thing it was so short or there would be no way I would have finished it ever!!!!! I hate this book don't go near it with a 39 and 1/2 foot pole.